Modeling Religion (Wildman & Shults) argues that religion has played a critical causal role in past civilizational transformations—and that computational modeling offers new tools for exploring religion’s possible futures. This book panel engages the volume’s integrative framework, which synthesizes ideological-political, material-social, and cognitive-coalitional theories through computational social simulation.
Respondents assess how formal models clarify the roles of religious worldviews and lifeways in the Neolithic, Axial, and Modern transitions, and how these models illuminate emerging post-supernaturalist futures. Particular attention is given to ethical, epistemological, and socio-political implications of modeling religion amid accelerating secularization, technological change, and global instability.
Aligned with the AAR 2026 theme “Future(s)”, the panel explores how computational approaches can support disciplined speculation about multiple possible futures for religion, spirituality, and human civilization—while also interrogating the normative assumptions embedded in such models.